Spirit of Winter
by TerraPrime
Summary: Rise of the Guardians one-shots and drabbles centered around Jack Frost, Pitch, and the other Guardians. Set Before, during, and after the movie. Lots of fluff. Rated T becuase I'm paranoid
1. Not Afraid To Die

This is my first story for Rise of the Guardians, so feel free to hate it! Kidding, you can hate it or love it, just please tell me what you think!

I do not own Rise of the Guardians! I swear I don't! That's all Dreamworks, you can thank them for creating the cutest animated boy in the entire world!

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Spirit of Winter

Not Afraid to Die?

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**Pitch's P.O.V.**

I could feel the girl's fear, stronger than ever before. The web of cracks spreading further out around the child's feet. Pitch smiled softly to himself as he watched the event play out from the shadows.

The girl's fear was wonderful, but the sheer amount of horror radiating from her brother was delightful. It came crashing off of him in waves as he looked at the cracks in the ice. He wasn't scared for his own life. No, he was terrified for his sister. The Shepard's child slowly leaned down, "It's okay, it's okay." He said, doing a good job of keeping the fear out of his voice. Pitch sneered, he could try to hide it all he wanted, but it was still there. "Don't look down, just look at me." The boy said gesturing while he spoke.

"Jack, I'm scared." The young girl said to her brother, Jack, and Pitch smiled slightly at the open admission of fear. As she spoke she tried to keep her balance, shaking as her ice-skates expanded the web of cracks.

The intensity of Jack's fear rose as the ice crackled. "I know, I know." He said, stepping forward, wincing as the ice around his cracked too. Pitch was practically grinning as the siblings stared at each other. "You're going to be okay. You're not going to fall in." Pitch frowned when the boy started making promises. His fear was still there, but it had lessened somewhat. Pitch growled at the loss, but noted that the boy wasn't saying that they were both going to be fine.

"Uhh...Were going to have a little fun instead." He said and flashed his sister a cheerful smile, and his fear receded. Pitch growled_ That is it! _He thought as he stood to his full height, his scythe materializing out of the shadows.

"No we're not!", the girl cried in fear and Pitch paused for a moment, waiting to see how it would play out.

"Would I trick you?" The boy asked, flashing an innocent smile.

"Yes! You always play tricks!" She shouted.

He laughed guiltily, "Yeah, well not this time. I promise, I promise." He said, "You're gonna be fine. You have to believe in me." Pitch felt a flare of anger when the boy said this, reminding him that he would never be believed in. Pitch smiled softly, this would not end well, he would make sure of it.

"You want to play a game? We're going to play hopscotch." The boy said, standing up quickly, "Like we always play!" Pitch could feel Jack's fear returning.

"It's as easy as...one." The boy moved his foot slowly, wincing as the ice cracked. He lifted his other foot and let out a playful cry of alarm, and his sister laughed, her fear vanishing. Pitch wanted to roar in anger, but remained quiet as he watched the boy.

"Two..." The boy said as he set his other foot down.

"Three." He said as he softly jumped to the thicker ice, and crouched down gesturing to his sister, while he slowly reached back and grabbed the staff from the ice.

"Alright, now it's your turn." He said as he extended the staff towards her.

"One.." he said and the girl gasped as she slid forward and the ice cracked more.

"Two..." She repeated the movement the ice crackling under her skates.

"Three!" The boy whispered and lunged forward, hooking the crook of his staff around her, using his momentum to throw her towards the thicker ice.

It was the boy's relieved laughter and his sisters bright smile that sent Pitch over the edge. He crept behind the boy, raised his scythe, and brought it down on the already cracked ice.

The boy plunged downward, into the freezing waters and Pitch smiled cruelly as the little girl screamed her brother's name. He expected to feel fear coming from the hole the boy had just plunged through, but there was none. _Was the boy already dead? Or was he simply unafraid to die? That wasn't possible, was it? Who wouldn't be afraid to die?_

The boy's sister looked up, and stared directly into his eyes. They both froze, _She can see me! _Pitch thought excitedly and then realized what he had just done, why she could see him. He had killed a child. He had gone so far as to kill a _child_ in order to be seen. He blinked and was suddenly very aware of the moon glaring down on him.

Then, he did what any guilty person would do to avoid judgment. He ran, diving quickly into the cover of the woods, leaving the shocked little girl to cry for someone, anyone to help her brother.

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I have decided to make this into an arc.

Please don't hate me for starting with death. I'll do something better, like Jack's first Christmas with the Guardians or something?


	2. Beaten and Alone

I know, I am a horrid human being. I post a story on Jack's death first, then I give you _this_. I feel so terrible right now...I promise to do something happier...

WARNINGS: ABUSE AND DEATH

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Spirit of Winter

Beaten and Lost

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Jack watched as the young figure stumbled out of the house, running down the snow-covered street, leaving blood stained snow in her wake. He had watched her for a while now, the little girl who spent all her time in the snow. He had seen her first, after he had discovered he couldn't be seen. That was three years ago, when the moon had abandoned him, when he learned that the other spirits hated him, when he discovered he was all alone.

She almost always refused to go in the house, away from her family, and never played with the other children. He liked her because she was like him, alone and broken and he did everything to make her happy. He made it snow, but kept the North Wind away from her, keeping her as warm as a child playing in the snow could be.

He swooped down and began to walk next to her, shielding her from the falling snow and keeping the wind away from her thin, fragile form.

Finally, she stopped at an old, abandoned hut at the end of the dirt road. The doors were gone and the shutters had been broken off a long time ago, but she always came here.

She curled up in the corner, crying and wincing as her salty tears stung the wounds on her face. He slowly sat next to her, placing his staff on the dirt floor, murmuring comforting nonsense, then softly started singing a song, knowing that she would never hear.

_I bring the pure flow,  
like water around.  
The rocks of life won't pull me down._

To his surprise, her sobs softened slightly, as if she could hear his silent song. He hesitantly reached out and he froze in shock when his hand didn't go through her. He quickly willed himself to unfreeze and kept singing as he softly started stroking her hair, noting that her eyes still passed through him, like he wasn't there.

_I bring the pure flow,  
drink so deep  
The river of life,  
My soul at ease._

She had stopped crying and was leaning into the shocked winter spirit, who continued to stroke her hair, ignoring the frost that was spreading across her scarred face and the blood that was pooling on the floor. She hoarsely began to join in, tears streaming on her face, and blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

_I bring the pure flow,  
Like water around.  
The rocks of life won't pull me down._

She was looking right at him now, but he didn't stop. Her eyes were drooping down and her skin was cold, and not just because she was curled next to the winter spirit.

_I bring the pure flow.  
Rising above,  
The storms of life  
To live and love._

He stopped when she weakly reached out for his hand.

"Thank you." She coughed out, spitting blood, "Thank you for staying. Jack... I'm so sorry. It was my fault." Her eyes closed as he clasped her hand tightly, ignoring his own frozen tears.

"No. No, it was never your fault...", He said quickly, wondering what she was talking about, but somehow knowing that she was sorely mistaken. She had never done anything wrong, certainly not to him...

He briefly wondered how she had known his name, but then shock away the thought. She believed in him, and he didn't know exactly know how it worked...He let out a soft sob at that thought. The one child who had ever believed and she was dying in his arms. He was probably making it worse, with the cold. She let out a soft whimper and he made a decision. He quietly leaned forward and placed a small kiss on her forehead, freezing her fragile form, and her body stilled.

The young winter spirit held her close through the night, ignoring the storm that raged around them, burying the town in snow and ice. All he could see was the small girl held in his arms, tossed aside and forgotten; the only emotion that anyone had felt towards her was for something that she hadn't done.

Through the night he held her close, his first believer, gone. The only thought in his head was that he had been the one to kill her; the ice from his hands had been the thing that killed her.

He had known her name; he had heard it many times, being yelled at by the other children, or whispered when she spoke to herself. The name that now belonged to a dead child. A name that Jack would carry forever.

Her name was Pippa Overland.

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Okay...now you understand what I meant. The premise of the story was that Pippa (I know that was the name of Jamie's friend, not Jack's sister) was blamed for her brother's death and hated by her family. I am so SORRY!

BTW: The song was Pure by Superchic(k)


End file.
